I don't want to rehash everything that has said before, except for one point: This is the best sounding and looking thing with Vai on it. Steve may want to hire out the editor for his Real Illusions DVD to this company. Simply Stellar. It reminded me of those really big budget concert films made in the late 80 (like the Def Lep Hysteria concert Vid for example). In a way, it was better than being there.

I can sum up what else I loved about this DVD in 3 points:

1) This isn't a back-handed compliment, but rather a "hell ya": I loved hearing Steve being a bit sloppy from time-to-time. This dvd seems to have very little (if not zero) studio overdubs. I really like the way Steve sounds raw. I'd rather hear the mistakes than not hear them, and this DVD comes through. Most... Human... Vai.. Ever... Building the Church actually sounds better live than on cd.

2) Pretrucci has to be the best matched 3rd G yet to date. I'm a huge Dream Theater fan, so there are no complaints here. (however I think Nuno or Paul Gilberto would be equally as good (hint, hint))...

3) This is the first G3 Jam that didn't bore the crap out of me. It might just be me, but I've always seen the Jam set as boring filler. This time I was loving it. Part of it had to do with Billy and Matt, but mostly I think it worked because no one stomped over each other... Steve, Joe, and John really have some chemistry when you compare to the older DVDs.

This dvd was more than I expected in terms of quality. Thank you so much Steve and Co.

I do not quite understand everyone with post after post of how this DVD did not live up to expectations or someone sounded bad or how Vai/Petrucci/Satch messed up this or that. Man, that makes them want to put out future releases!

I have been fortunate enough to see a G3 once in concert and Vai once in concert. Both experiences were great (and the G3 I saw was with Petrucci a few years back). I enjoy their music, but also enjoy seeing the technical side of it through seeing them play. I wouldn't care if the DVD was three hours of them running scales -- they are amazing to watch. So, since I haven't had many opportunities to see them live, DVD performances are the only way for me to witness them playing. Same goes for the upcoming Eric Johnson DVD. I saw him once back in '97, but it was outside and I was like a 1/8 mile away. This DVD will be the only opportunity I will have to see him play those songs that I sit back and ponder, "how the hell does he play that?!?!"

I just want to say a thank you to the artists that play for us to enjoy their music, and a bigger thanks for expanding their concerts to DVD. My only request is for more of the same in the future!

egratteau wrote:...There are also a couple of shots where they fail to adjust the viewing ratio and all three individuals are compressed, tall and skinny...

I noticed this too and thought it might have been a mistake as well, but then after I thought about it, I realized they might have done this on purpose as a tribute to the old Japanese Samurai/Martial Arts movies, since they were in Tokyo after all. It happened once on the Jam I noticed and then it happened again at the very end of the show. I remember seeing various Martial Arts films that used this effect at the end of the movie when the hero was walking away and he would be very skinny, sort of a "larger than life" view, I guess.

Vaism wrote:...steve, now, i just dont understand what he was thinking during these jams. he *almost* sounded inferior or out of place (like yngwie on last year's jam). He did pretty well on the hendrix jam and then the last 2 it was like what are you playing dude. he was playing things that were totally out of context with the song. mr vai is so inventive and experiemental but i just wasnt feeling the licks at all. his solos were predictable after the first one. some harmonics with whammy some sweeps etc. i guess i felt that he wasnt really trying that hard. its such a huge contrast from the first G3 dvd when he slaughtered souls on EVERY SONG. EVERY JAM and EVERY song. the solos were just amazing then and here its like yeah you are vai i know you can do better than that. im not bashing vai in any way this is a great dvd definitely worth the 12 dollars i paid. three best guitar players on one stage EVER. PERIOD.

Vaism wrote:thing is, i dont necessarily think that petrucci or satch ARE better at improvising. ive heard vai's improv numberous times, on the G3 1996 dvd its amazing (his solos in Im Going Down and My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama dominate all) and in the harmony hut jam with satch he really just makes your jaw drop. forget about the technical stuff its the melodies and the way he articulates his notes. however, he just did not try on this jam. he can make all the funny faces and whammy dives he wants but at the end of the day it just doesnt cut the mustard. lets forget that was vai up there and you saw these 3 dudes jamming out on those 3 songs. any reasonable person would be able to tell that his playing was just not up to par with everyone elses. i think the problem is sometimes he just forces things for the sake of trying to sound unique. i also think vai should go back to bogner and marshall (i dislike marshall) amps.

I definitely agree. I've been listening to the '96, and '03 G3's lately and I would also have to say that the first G3 with Eric Johnson has to be Vai's best playing Jam-wise. It's not that he doesn't try, it's that he tries too hard; almost as if he feels he's the inferior one who has to keep up. Joe seems more laid back than ever and I like that savvy air to him; and I'm not being biased towards John, but would you or would you not agree that, all shredding aside, he has little to no personality when he's playing? I mean even his commentary track left me yawning..."There's me noodling," or "There's Steve and Joe" or "There's the crew". I mean c'mon! Say something interesting! It sounded like he used an old fashioned microphone too because you could hear the accent on his "P's" as if he was eating the wind sponge on the mic.

Real_Confusions wrote:...Petrucci's alternate picking didn't bother me--it was funny when he would look over at how Vai would do certain things, though...

I thought that was funny too, when Steve started doing yet another whammy bar trick (this time multiple whammy bar screams) John didn't see Steve's left hand wanking on the whammy and you see his head peek in from the right of the screen to look down and figure out what he was doing. John was laughing and probably thinking, "What's he doing now?" I don't think Steve even noticed.

egratteau wrote:...Unlike the "Rockin' In the Free World" release, the DVD and CD are identical. Same location and set-list. Seems barely justifiable to purchase both. Hardcore fans like me won't have difficulty justifying the expense. Something to be mindful about, however, is the new copy protection software installed on the CD version. This will restrict your ability to play it on your computer without installing proprietary software and nearly impossible to play and rip in iTunes if you have a Mac. If you have the means, I would suggest recording the audio from the DVD to make yourself an audio only copy for in car use...

I figured they would be the same audio for DVD and CD this time. That's why I bought the DVD and recorded the audio the very night I watched it. I've been listening to it at work ever since; I can't get enough of Steve's set especially Building the Church I don't see the point in buying something extra when you can get the same thing if you have the right software. Although, when I found out that last year's G3 DVD and CDs with Yngwie would have different audio, I did buy the CD along with the DVD and made my own G3 mixes combining songs from both the DVD and CDs into 2 CDs of my own. Plus, isn't it legal to do this anyway provided you don't distribute it? Aren't you allowed to make copies of items you buy in case the original gets damaged?

I would have liked to see an audio commentary for the whole show thought, maybe next time. Hopefully we'll get one on the next Vai DVD (hint, hint ) and for me last year's G3: Live in Denver was the best G3 because of the high energy of Yngwie, although, I did think he was a little too over the top and was off to the side too much during the Jams leaving Steve and Joe behind; borderline disrespectful even. And Rockin' in the Free World is by far one of the best G3 songs PERIOD! I never even heard it before they sang it and thought it was cool that Neil Young wrote it. Funny when you think about the contrast between Satch's voice and Neil's Though I still think the one best song on all of the G3 albums is 1996's For the Love of God including the ending solo of Answers.

I definitely agree. I've been listening to the '96, and '03 G3's lately and I would also have to say that the first G3 with Eric Johnson has to be Vai's best playing Jam-wise

Dont know about that.

Steve's solo on Rockin in the Free World is a killer.

That first note just floors me every time.

Compare thatwith his solo on Red House.

and compare his solos on Going Down and My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama especially. with My Guitar being the best jam solo of any of the dvds. especially the part at the end where vai shows the great phrasing hes known for. vai's jamming on the denver and tokyo dvd fails.

First off, How BLESSED we are to have things like this come out. Thank you and PLEASE keep them coming... However, this was not my favorite TOTAL package.

Yngwie with Vai and Satch G3 was close to perfect. So happy to have the DVD. YJM just brings so much balls to the thing. It's that energy that makes for the magic.

On the 05 DVD, Vai just *defines* top shelf, obviously. Someone else talked about his mistakes, adn to tell you the truth, it was like hearing Stve play in a bar. Aesome REAL sounding guitar from the master. I know this doesn't articulate it, but it was the most "guitar-ish" sounding Vai I have ever heard. A whole new facet of his playing. So awesome.

Might I suggest Paul Gilbert instead of Petrucci on the next G3? He has the neo-classical thing, and IBANEZ would love you guys for it! Whaddya say?

So on to G3, Italian-style:
I have to say, I was quite disappointed with Petrucci. I had heard so much about him for so long, this was my first time hearing him. It was kinda boring. Just stands there. He is technically amazing, but it was soul-less. Satch seemes to be more animated, and it made a big difference. The mix was FANTASTIC.

4 questions Re: G3 2005 DVD:

1-Why are these G3 DVD's not longer (more Vai)?
2-Does anyone else find the G3 jams anti-climactic?
3-Why were the bands set up so far from the edge of the stage (near the audience)? I think there was some crowd energy lost.
4-When is G3 going to hire camera operators who are also guitarists so that they can ACTUALLY capture the visual information that we guitarists are interested in?

If it weren't for my man Vai, this DVD would be someone's stocking stuffer in two months... Just my .02

Now cd universe is saying i might have to wait until the END OF NOVEMEMBER before they send it to me, while the region 2 disc can be dispatched in 4-10 working days!

Just my luck.

I don't understand what's going on there. I wanted to order the DVD from there as there is a CD I want to order at the same time. But they have the G3 DVD listed as "Pre-order, available November 14th 2005".

This doesn't make sense, as it is in stores now. It's irritating, because nowhere else seems to have both the items I want, or if they do they're way more expensive than they should be.

EDIT: And now I've just tried Amazon, and they have it listed as a "Special Order", which will ship in 7-9 days "if they are able to get it in stock".